Log in Subscribe

Get to know Community coach Robbie Davis

By RICKEY CLARDY ~ For the T-G
Posted 5/26/20

Robbie Davis serves as the head coach of the Community High basketball and baseball teams. He was interviewed by the Times-Gazette to reflect on his career. TG: Where did you go to school? DAVIS: I went to elementary school at Liberty and high school at Shelbyville Central from 1989-93. ...

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Get to know Community coach Robbie Davis

Posted

Robbie Davis serves as the head coach of the Community High basketball and baseball teams. He was interviewed by the Times-Gazette to reflect on his career.

TG: Where did you go to school?

DAVIS: I went to elementary school at Liberty and high school at Shelbyville Central from 1989-93. From there I got my associate’s degree at Motlow State and my bachelor’s at MTSU. I received my master’s from Tennessee Tech and I am working on my doctorate through the United States Sports Academy in Athletic Administration.

TG: Tell us about your sports career growing up.

DAVIS: I played baseball and basketball growing up. We didn’t have a football team at Liberty at the time nor did we have middle school baseball so we played in the Dixie Youth and Babe Ruth leagues in Shelbyville. In high school I played baseball and basketball and tried football for one year but decided to just focus on those two.

TG: Name a coach or coaches that had a big influence on you.

DAVIS: When I was in middle school coach Tim Fleming was a big influence when I knew I wanted to be a teacher and a coach. In high school coach Terry Looper and Jerry Naron were huge influences on me. Coach Looper was our freshman coach. We had a great freshman team and went undefeated that season. Coach Looper pushed us every day in practice and taught us the value of hard work and taught all of us what it meant to work and be a part of a team. Even today when Coach Looper comes to one of our games it’s a huge thrill for me because I hope my teams play the way he taught us. Coach Naron was our Legion baseball coach. The life lessons and memories in those three years are priceless to any guy who played for him. He took the time to not just coach us but also to teach us the game and the details of why. He also taught us how to handle failing and how it related to life. He also had some very funny one liners he would use all the time. Everyone who played for coach Naron has a fun story to share. Also, Coach Mike Edmondson and Jason Welch have been huge mentors to me as a coach. I have learned so much from each one of them and even today I will text them or call and just pick their brain. Both of them have been very successful in their coaching careers and have been a huge help to me. I always look up at Coach Edmondson’s banners in the gym and hope our teams can achieve like those great Community teams in the past.

TG: What coaching experience did you have before coming to Community?

DAVIS: I was an assistant for Coach Jason Welch at Macon County and I also helped Coach Naron a few seasons in Legion once my playing days were over.

TG: What brought you to Community?

DAVIS: Bedford County is my home so after several successful seasons at Macon County an opportunity came open at Community Middle to work for my good friend Dee McCullough and coach baseball and basketball. I had some great advice from one of my baseball coaches in high school, coach Barry Vetter, that if you want to go into coaching go out and coach other places then look at coming back home later in your career. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to come back home.

TG: What is it like coaching two sports?

DAVIS: It is so much fun to be able to coach the two sports I love. I am very thankful Dr. Robert Ralston allows me to coach both. There are not many coaches in Tennessee that get to do what I do. It is a challenge some seasons when basketball and baseball cross over in February and March but we have always made it work. Most of the basketball guys also play baseball so it makes it a smooth transition. In the summer months of May and June it gets really busy. We may do camp basketball games all day then a doubleheader summer baseball game at night. My wife Taylor is a huge reason I am able to do what I do. She takes care of the family and the girls while I work and makes pretty much every game we have so I am very blessed because I couldn’t do it without her.

TG: You coached a state tournament baseball team in 2014. Tell us about that experience.

DAVIS: That was an incredible run! I had coached that group of seniors, juniors and sophomores in middle school and my first season we went 21-2 so I knew we had a great chance of doing something special. As a coach you start every season wanting a chance to make the state tournament. When I got to Community one of my personal goals was to get my teams to the highest level and make our Community teams competitive every year. When we won the district at Forrest I knew making the state would still be a tough road. After beating East Robertson and then beating Forrest again at home I had a great feeling we could make the state. We had great pitching and a solid defense. Walking out on the field at Riverdale for the first state tournament game was a feeling like no other. A few breaks in that game and no doubt we had a shot at making the finals. That was a very special group of kids and I always love seeing them come back to the park and watching games.

TG: This past season your basketball team won the district and region tournaments and went all the way to fourth in the AP poll in a tough AA classification. Tell us about that.

DAVIS: Like the state tournament baseball team I helped coach these guys in middle school so I knew there were some very talented players. When they got to high school their freshman year, we made a run to our second sub state game, upsetting some very good teams along the way but the experience those guys got as freshmen playing in that atmosphere was priceless. That fall we found out we would be moving to 2A and would be one of the smallest in that classification. That first season was the first time we didn’t make the region. I believe that drove these kids all summer to be better on the floor and the weight room. This season it all paid off. We were ranked in the top five of the state and went undefeated in the district and region tourneys. Being able to host the region in front of our fans was an amazing experience. Being only the second team in school history to win the region was very special. Going into halftime of the sub state game we were up nine and scored the first basket of the half to go up 11. East Nashville made some amazing shots on offense and for the first time all year our shots didn’t fall as much.

Being about 10 minutes from the state tournament will always be a tough one to swallow and it hurt because I know how hard these kids worked on and off the floor. The fans and the student section are what made it so special. Our fans are the best! They travel with us everywhere and gave us a huge home court advantage even on the road. This team finished 32-2 and because of the cancellation of the tourney was able to play in the last game of the year in Tennessee. Had we won it would have been even more devastating to not be able to play in the state. The wins and success were special but even more special were the practices and all the fun we had as a team. I will miss these young men very much.

TG: You also used to be an assistant on the football team. What role did you have and how was that?

DAVIS: My first three years at the high school coach Johnny Frost asked if I would help with football. My first season I just helped wherever he needed me. My next two seasons I served as the offensive coordinator which was a lot of fun! My second season we finished 4-6 and were one game away from the playoffs. There is nothing like high school football on Friday nights. I enjoyed calling plays and working with Quinn Frost who was the QB at the time. We had some very talented players. I always loved to add two or three trick plays a week we would run just to show a wrinkle every now and again.

TG: What was it like not playing baseball this spring?

DAVIS: This was a very heartbreaking way to lose a baseball season not only for our kids but across the country on what was going on. We finished basketball on a Monday and started baseball that Wednesday. We played Wednesday, Thursday and Friday that week and went 2-1. It became real when we got word the girls’ state tournament had been postponed. At first most of us coaches thought it would be like a bad flu sickness where we would be out for a few weeks then back playing. Personally I was ok with that because it had been a very emotional basketball season and some of our key players in hoops are also our main guys in baseball so it would give us a chance to rest up and get focused for a run at the district.

Once the magnitude set in of what was going on across the country the reality of losing baseball season also set in. Once it was canceled I really hurt for our seniors and all the seniors across the country. My daughter Payton was a senior on the softball team so it was very tough on that front not seeing her get to finish something she loved. We have spent most of the time in East Tennessee in our family cabin. I have enjoyed getting to spend quality family time with my wife and kids but I hate how it came about. There is nothing like the fresh cut grass on a warm spring night playing baseball in Unionville!

TG: How will the pandemic affect sports in the future, both at the high school, college, and professional levels?

DAVIS: I am hoping personally that we get back to where we were especially on the high school level. I understand the need to be cautious especially when there isn’t a vaccine. But once that is achieved I hope things will go back to normal. I think sports gives everyone a much-needed outlet from the stress of their days. The virus for sure has reminded all of us just how special the little things of our normal day are. Just being able to watch a game or go out to eat is something most won’t take for granted anymore but I don’t think we need to live in fear once we have the vaccine.

TG: Being around so many sports, have you experienced getting to know coaches beyond just the games?

DAVIS: I have made so many friendships with coaches over the years. Coach Tipps at Huntland, coach King at Marshall Co., coach Piercey at MTCS, coaches Reed and McClaran at Eagleville, and coaches Worsley and Patterson at Magnet to name a few. Brandon Bassham and I started a friendship when he was at Cascade. Our teams would battle and we have been great friends ever since. Brandon and David Parker were a huge help getting our field in better shape. They even let us use their tarp for our sub state game in baseball. Brandon and I go on a road trip to watch Tennessee play football every year! We have been to Ole Miss, Kentucky, and saw a win at Auburn! The friendships you make are one of the great things about coaching.

TG: What subjects do you teach?

DAVIS: Most years I teach World History but some years when we have a large junior class I will teach a class of American History or Government.

TG: You’ve already had two girls that graduated and played sports at Community. Do your younger daughters follow in your footsteps of liking sports and do you think they will be involved in sports as they grow up?

DAVIS: My oldest daughters Riley and Payton both played sports at Community and are proud graduates. Riley is a first grade teacher at Community Elementary and they both still attend as many games as possible. My two youngest daughters Spencer and Landry both love sports. Spencer is going to be a second grader and loves playing basketball and softball. They love coming to practice, especially basketball. Spencer will come over after school and hang out at practice with me during basketball season. The boys on the team love her and she loves going to hang out with the girls’ team in the locker room. She grabs a ball and shoots and is very close to getting one in the big goal! Landry loves the gym more than anything. She is wide open when she comes to practice.

One of the things they like the most is my wife. Taylor will bring them to the locker room after a game and if we win they get to come in and hang with us while we talk to the boys. Dan Reed helps us on the bench for boys’ basketball and before every game he will ask me what level of focus we are at tonight to get me laughing and relaxed. Before the region finals’ game at home he asked me and I told him I bleed purple so we are at a 10 tonight because this one is for Unionville. The best part of Unionville and Community schools is the people. The administrations at every school always work together. At our sub state pep rally, the elementary and middle schools came over to join us. It was awesome. The teachers that work there go above and beyond to help students achieve. It really is a great place for students to go to school and play sports. We have had a ton of success in the classroom and in sports over the last several years.

TG: What are your favorite sports teams?

DAVIS: I am a full-blooded Tennessee Volunteer since birth. Not just football but all sports. Nothing like Rocky Top! I am also a lifelong Cincinnati Reds fan! Chris Siers and Josh Hammonds and I make up the Bedford County chapter of Big Red Country! We have spent many summers texting over the agony of our Reds! Since Peyton Manning retired I don’t follow a particular NFL team. I watch it now more for the fantasy stats.

TG: What do you like to do in your spare time?

DAVIS: My wife and I every summer try to take a trip to a different part of the country and just spend a week together. We have been to Boston which included a tour of Fenway. Washington, D.C. is one of our favorite places and also Chicago where we went to watch the Reds vs. Cubs at Wrigley. We go to Reds’ games every summer and have hit several major league parks and hope to hit ‘em all. I also play in a fantasy football league with a lot of my high school friends like Bubba Shavers, Todd Bobo, Jason Boyette, Chris Fox, Chris Tocchio, and Coach Jeff Mitchell at Webb to name a few. We do a live draft every year so it is a ton of fun!

TG: What do you like to watch on TV?

DAVIS: We love watching sports and like the tv dramas and the ‘who done it shows’. Some of our favorites are New Amsterdam, FBI, This is Us, and Justified.

TG: Is there anything else you would like to add?

DAVIS: Yes, my mom and dad. Being at Unionville is a family thing. They do my concession stand at baseball games and my dad does the popcorn at home basketball games. They don’t miss a game.